John candy saying

I was not a big user but was consistent over the last 4 years, Zyn was an easy cope need for me. I’ve tried to quiet multiple times but have caved in the past. Had someone at work say they were quitting (bigger user than myself) and it inspired me to kick it back into gear again and quitting cold turkey
Some of my symptoms I believe are tied to Zyn usage: - Sweating easily and more often (especially form my armpits) - tightness in my chest when working out recently - went though some major life changes recently (new job, new baby) and found my anxiety out the roof, had a few breakdowns I have never had before (obviously this is not all nicotine related but I don’t believe it helped my anxiety) - waking up with extreme cotton mouth in the AMs - overly active bowels, was using the restroom 3-4x per day
Things I am doing to help myself through quitting (cold turkey) - bought some sugar free hard candies to suck on and bought some Teaza pouches (they are ok but help with the fixation need) - I have been more active, trying to workout or even just go walk more along with staying busier socially - drinking lots of water, staying hydrated
Trying to stay strong here, let me know any tips or if you had similar symptoms. Appreciate the support of this sub

Hi everyone,
I’m a parent of two toddlers. At their daycare, it’s teacher appreciation month. In total, there will be 9 people I will be getting gifts for. I’m planning to get gift cards, but I’m usually more thoughtful than a gift card.
What gifts do teachers typically like?
I’m avoiding the stuff that says “teacher” (initially what I was going to do), cups (no one wants that lol), and food/candy. I was thinking about getting everyone custom name keychains in their favorite color.
Making a gift is out of the question since it’s so many people.
My daughter’s class has two teachers and my son’s class has four teachers. The other people work in the front but they do help in the classroom.

a review by Evan Landon

I remember distinctly the first time I saw the trailer for Last Voyage of the Demeter and just shaking my head as they butchered Bullet With Butterfly Wings with some stupid techno downbeat. Why do they do that shit? They take a song that everybody knows, then shoehorn that shit in so hard that it's comical. “The world is a vampire” with a bunch of reverb and synth drums while a monster stalks his prey is so corny and lazy that I want to punch a kitten. “Oh, it's a movie about vampires? Ohhhh let's put that one Smashing Pumpkins song in it and make it suck.” Talentless, generic hacks are behind that brilliance on every level, I'm telling you. After seeing the 1931 Tod Browning movie as a kid, I immediately wanted to read the 1897 Bram Stoker novel from where it originated, and I have to say that it was not the kind of read I was expecting. The entire novel is told through letters, journals, and newspaper articles which is not the kind of thing one would expect when it comes to one of the first horror stories, but that also was what gave it its appeal, I think. It was different... Just because something is different does not make it good; however, this one was good enough to be adapted into a stage play in 1924 by Hamilton Dean & John L. Balderston. Hey, that was 100 years ago! I bring the whole Dracula origin because that is the part in the novel (Chapter 7, to be exact) where it is told through the Captain's Log which I found the most tedious and somewhat boring. When they said that they were doing a film based on that, I was very quick to dismiss it when it finally arrived, but watching it gave me a different feeling altogether. Was it a good feeling? Meh. What I did enjoy about this movie was how they were able to somewhat build a narrative out of a nothing burger in the novel. The gore is adequate for CGI, so I don't worry too much about that because there are some okay close-ups that make up for it practically. The acting is on point too with Liam Cunningham as The Captain, David Dastmalchian as his first mate, and Corey Hawkins as the ship's doctor. The only problem I have with having a black doctor on the boat in the 19th century is that there were not a lot of black doctors (Cambridge alumni or not) around at that time, so it's shoved in there pretty hard with no real reason. They acknowledge it, but that does not change the conveniency of the writing. Then there is the Transylvanian woman who was placed on the boat for Dracula to snack on, so those boxes got ticked for the suits because everyone needs to have representation in every movie nowadays. What did not work was mostly the lack of gore or “Dracula” himself. We are used to seeing ol' Drac as a beguiling count who borders on romantic, then crosses that border. Also, the fog and mist coalescing with the lack of lighting and flowing motions of the camera makes this difficult to see, much less watch. Although the acting is great, the characters and dialogue between are not interesting enough to truly value and what would stand as a story is very flimsy; but again, there was not much to work with in one chapter of a novel that is basically just a captain's log. When you have tentpoles so weak to build upon, I guess what you want is something outrageous to gain some weight. What is the story, you ask? A 19th Century English supply ship named the “Demeter” is coming from Romania to Britain and its contents happen to contain a monster that feasts on human blood. Chaos ensues, as the crew not only try to make it to shore, but also to save their lives. Maybe even their souls! The Last Voyage of the Demeter is an interesting look at the most overlooked part of the source material, but nobody really has any original ideas anymore, so might as well. Released by DreamWorks Pictures, it pulled in $21.8 million against a $45 million budget, so I would not expect to see a sequel that was teased at the end. This is the end, for this movie, anyways. With all the other “Dracula” movies out there, I'd say go with one of those instead if you are looking for the classic Dracula character. It's literally just a giant CGI man-bat version of it, which works and doesn't at the same time. 

2.5 out of 5

Mattana Ministry Welcomes You To: Sunday Sermon: 19 May 2024 Theme: The Working of the Holy Spirit Music: https://youtu.be/XqbYo4_DeGI https://youtu.be/d-SI_HRWooA Scripture: 1 Cor. 12:3; John.4:24; John.6:63; Mark.16:15; John.14:26; Acts.1:8 & Mark.3:28-30 Message: We celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit today, but what is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Who and What is the Holy Spirit, and why do we need the Holy Spirit in our lives? Let's first see who and what is the Holy Spirit and then we look at how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Divine Trinity and is called the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit is the eternal Power and Power of God as we can see in 1 Cor. 12:3 and John.4:24: 1 Cor. 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. John.4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. We see here that we need the Holy Spirit in order to worship and understand God. Now let's look at how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. The Holy Spirit brings us to life, as seen in John. 6:63 John. 6:63 It is the spirit that quickenth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they life. The Holy Spirit quickens. When the Holy Spirit is in our lives, it's like a fire being kindled. The more we hear the Word and the more we believe the Word the more the fire burns within us. The Word we have received from Jesus is spirit and life. The Holy Spirit makes us capable, let's look at Mark. 16:15 Mark.16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Without the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will not have the courage and ability to preach the Gospel and win souls for the Kingdom. We will shy away from the command Jesus gave us because we will feel that we are not qualified to tell people about Jesus. The Holy Spirit is there for our comfort and power, let's look at John.14:26 & Acts 1:8 John.14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Acts1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. When we are alone, the Holy Spirit will be there for us. The Holy Spirit will comfort us when we are hurting and unhappy. The Holy Spirit will give us the strength we need to meet life's challenges. Is the Holy Spirit just a children's story? No, the Holy Spirit is a serious Person and we are also exhorted not to sin against the Holy Spirit as we can see in Mark 3:28-30 Mark.3:28-30 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation. Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit. Do we need the Holy Spirit in our lives? Ensure. Is the Holy Spirit important in our daily existence? Yes, definitely. Prayer: Dear Father we come to You at the end of the week, and thank You for sending us the Holy Spirit. Lord thank you that we have the Holy Spirit to guide and teach us in Your Word. Holy Spirit please work in our lives every day, please be a part of our daily existence and please be the Voice that admonishes us when we act incorrectly. In Jesus Name, Amen Please feel free to leave a review of this message. https://www.soulcenters.org/directory/mattana-ministry/#listing-reviews MM

Hello, as a Christian i would like to have an open conversation with you and hear your thoughts. If you believe Jesus was a messenger of God wouldn't he contradict Hare Krishna religion in John 14:6 ? “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." and if Jesus was only God's messenger why would he say in John 10:30 "I and the Father are one" , thus making himself equal with God which would be blasphemic if he wasn't God himself. Being raised a as a Hare Krishna who converted to Christianity i would like to hear your thoughts on this.

[You can see my first post in my profile]
Hello all, it’s been about a year since I informed you of what’s going on in my family, thank you all for the support, and to those who are against me, congratulations, you attacked someone on Reddit, happy? You literally did nothing to my spirit or opinions on this matter, so now you just look stupid. First of all, I’d like to clear some things up before I begin. 1. I DID NOT show the explicit pictures of my wife or her lover to my children (which I said in my first post, but people seemed to ignore it). I only showed them the screenshots of her flirting with her coworker, and the messages were not sexual, it was only her saying things like “I love you” and “my husband is so stupid for not noticing”. 2. The reason I rushed to tell my children so quickly is because I know my wife. And she would 110% try to shift the story so that they think I cheated on her, hence why I also took screenshots. I was worried she had already gotten to my daughters before she left for work, but fortunately she must have forgot in her haste and panic. She also tried to convince our friends and family that I was the one who cheated, but the screenshots saved me from that. Now the only people that are on her side, are her two best friends, and the coworker she cheated with. 3. While I didn’t say this before, I’ve tried very hard not to make my daughters hate my wife. While I personally hate her, and am completely over her. I still want my daughters to have their mother in their lives, and they have warmed up to her again quite a bit. 4. The reason I let my wife take my daughters is because I needed some time alone. And while I hate her with a passion now, I know the kids are safe with her, as she loves them more than life. Now, onto the update.
My lawyer served her the papers and she immediately broke down crying and called me over 100 times. Asking if I was serious and that she’s so sorry, and not to do this to her, not to do this to our family. Apparently she thought she still had a chance to get back together with me, are you kidding me? So I told her that it’s completely over, and what she did was unforgivable, and I hung up on her. She then tried to call me almost every hour on the dot, and I’ve ignored every single one. I have gone over to see my daughters whenever I could, but refused to go to her parents house when she was there. Luckily, her parents are on my side, and the only reason she hasn’t been thrown out is because she’s their daughter, and they still love her. I’ve signed my daughters up for joint therapy so they can talk to somebody about this if they need to. (thank you to all who suggested it) Everyone in my family and hers is shocked at how fast I got over her, but it’s natural for me. It’s just the way I think, I hate her, but I figure, if she didn’t love me, I shouldn’t love her. I may have gotten over her, but I’m still upset about my situation, my life is falling apart, but I have people on my side, and it softens the fall. My brother has invited me to go drinking with him and his friends, and I’ve had a great night every time. I even got drunk and slept with one of his friends, Kayla. Afterward, she asked me on a date, but I told her I’m not quite ready for that yet, she understood and we had breakfast together. I honestly really like her, and I feel that in the long run, she would be a good partner and a good stepmother to my daughters. But I’m not sure anyone is ready for that yet, so I’m holding off, but at some point, I’d like them to meet Kayla. My in-laws keep trying to tell me about how my wife is doing, and I keep telling them I don’t want to hear about her. They do get disappointed, because they’ve always really liked me, and probably don’t want our marriage to end. My brother has also come by to see me more often, sometimes Kayla and his friends come with him, I won’t lie, I enjoy the company. As for my job, I’m the owner of my own local cleaning company. While I have a lot of paperwork to do, I can do it all from home, so none of this interferes with my work schedule. I’ve spoiled my daughters rotten since then, every time I came over, I brought them some candy or a new toy. Not to try and keep them on my side, but because it’s a rough time for them, and they deserve it. As a whole, I thought my marriage ending would be the worst experience of my life, but the truth is, I’ve never felt better. I met a great woman, I still get to see my kids and have them in my life, and my ex is still in shambles because of this. I hate to admit it, but I would love to see how she’s dealing with this. I’ll update you all again when there’s more to talk about, sorry about that, this is just more of a rant about how much better my life is now instead of an update on my family. But for now, me and my daughters are happy, and until the next time I update you, I hope it stays this way.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crggr227jg8o
Louise Cullen BBC NI Agriculture and Environment Correspondent Published 19 May 2024, 11:38 BST Updated 2 hours ago The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) has confirmed a major fish kill in a river in County Antrim. It said more than 1,000 brown trout were killed due to slurry in the Four Mile Burn, a tributary of the Six Mile Water river. The incident happened at Newmills, near Doagh, and is thought to be farm-related. The Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) contacted the Antrim and District Angling Association (ADAA) on Friday, informing them an incident had been reported. In a video posted on social media, the ADAA said several of their members had walked three miles along the river and counted “hundreds of dead fish from last year’s crop, and perhaps thousands from this season’s crop". The group has called for Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Andrew Muir and the NIEA to “get a handle” on pollution incidents in the Lough Neagh system, which members say have left it “in tatters”. Dead fish in river IMAGE SOURCE, ADDA Image caption, Dead fish in Four Mile Burn, a tributary of the Six Mile Water river Mr Muir's party colleague, Alliance environment spokesperson John Blair MLA, said it was time for fines for polluters to be increased. "It’s immensely disappointing such occurrences are still happening, particularly when they take place in the catchment area of Lough Neagh," he said. He said increasing fines and penalties was "the only way polluters will learn and stop acts which risk our environment and its rich biodiversity”. In a statement, a Daera spokesperson said the NIEA deployed water quality inspectors to the area to confirm the report and assess the environmental impact. A joint investigation, with Daera Inland Fisheries, is "ongoing", they added. The department said the source of the pollution had been identified and the NIEA engaged with the owner of the premises involved throughout Saturday afternoon to identify the cause and to prevent further discharge to the river. "From the assessment of the impact on the fishery, a major fish kill has been confirmed, with 1,109 brown trout of varying ages being killed," it said. Anglers said they feared hundreds of young salmon had also died in the incident. "It's just devastation" John Mitchell Image caption, John Mitchell said the river has been completely wiped out President of the ADAA, John Mitchell, told BBC News NI that he believes the incident was due to agriculture. "It’s just devastation, the whole tributary is dead," he said. "We have a problem in Lough Neagh with the green algae, this is what is happening, these tributaries have to be kept clean and unfortunately they’re not. "All the tributaries have to be kept clean and feed into the main river to keep the river clean, and keep Lough Neagh clean. "This is where it starts and if it’s not clean here, it’s not going to be clean in Lough Neagh. "The problem is not Lough Neagh, it’s the feeder streams and the rivers running into Lough Neagh that’s causing the problem, which is coming from agriculture," Mr Mitchell said. John Ash Image caption, John Ash said more needs to be done by the farming community and the government to prevent such incidents from recurring John Ash from the ADAA explained how damaging the pollution had been to the fish population. "Three generations of fish have been wiped out in one go. It’s sad for us, we work very hard to generate a place where the fish can spawn every year and breed," he said. "These pollution incidents are hammering the salmon population and ultimately our dollaghan (brown trout) population. In one fell swoop they are wiped out and it’s the reason why Lough Neagh is the way that it is." He added that more needs to be done by the farming community and the government to prevent these kinds of incidents from recurring. "Agricultural foulage is a big problem, and it’s not the farmers’ fault – farmers need to farm. But there seems to be a huge amount of slurry left over and the government needs to step in and do something to help the farmers get rid of that slurry," Mr Ash said.

There will be a microscopy exhibit at the OpenSauce conference by John McMaster and the San Francisco Microscopical Society on June 15-16. PUMA will be in the exhibit in addition to other microscopes. Just saying.
Here is a link: https://opensauce.com/exhibits/

https://youtu.be/jqPQ5dUfSTw?t=672
Regardless of your opinions of John Mearsheimer's beliefs about I/P or his support of Palestine, what are your thoughts about him saying that the US does not support Israel for strategic interests but instead because of the Israeli lobby's influence in US politics and policy?
It's well known that the Israeli lobby is heavily influential in US politics and policy. But Mearsheimer makes a point that the lobby is acting more openly in recent years, and that its existence, growth, and influence in US policy highlights that the US doesn't support Israel due to the US' own strategic calculations but because of the lobby itself. If Israel was a strategic ally of the US -- like if the US supported Israel because it's a democracy in the middle east (a claim many make including Destiny) -- then Israel would not need such a powerful lobby that pushes for politicians to support Israel unconditionally or pushes the narrative that the US and Israel are strategic allies because that support would already exist. The lobby's existence and power highlights that Israel is not US' ally, or perhaps not as much as we're told.
Thoughts?
EDIT - This is his argument not mine.

Oh, boy, Charlotte, do I have a doozy for you. It’s such a doozy that it comes in 2 parts. I guess it would qualify as petty revenge, since that’s the only flair that fit, but it’s more of an entitled Karen story.
For the sake of telling the story a little smoother, I'm going to explain some things up front. I (female, early 30s; let's call me Molly) am the manager in the accounting office of a very small loan company. Like, really small. We have less than 30 offices with only 2 employees at each office. For this reason, we are kind of low-tech, old-fashioned. I'm talking paper timesheets that get faxed to our office (we're also the corporate office that handles the payroll). Our office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a half-hour lunch. Me & my employee (who we'll call Sally) work this shift. Our boss (who we'll call Greg) is the owner & CEO. He works in the office starting at 9:00 a.m. till whenever he leaves for the day. Most of the time, that's around the time we leave, sometimes it's earlier due to errands he needs to run.
So, in Oct 2022, Sally (female, early 30s) gave us a note that her doctor wants to have daily appointments with her indefinitely. She let us know she would need to leave at 3:30 every day. Greg granted that request & even gave her the opportunity to come in early so she didn't miss any of her 8 hours each day. So, she began coming to work between 6:45 & 7:00 & would take however long of a lunch she needed to so she would have an 8-hour day.
Due to a combination of our fiscal year-end work in Oct & Nov 2022, playing catch-up from Dec 2022 to Feb 2023, & the other coworker (who we'll call Irene) leaving the company in Feb 2023 so we had to play catch-up again for several months before we got used to the bigger workload, I hadn't been able to pay too close attention to Sally's work. But in the middle of Aug 2023, I began to suspect her. I realized that the tasks Sally had in the morning would usually take me an hour & a half to do, which meant I would be relatively finished by the time I would arrive at 8:30. Sally, on the other hand, would only have stuff halfway done. Now, I knew Sally worked slower than me since I knew the job better than she did, but this still seemed very slow. I began to suspect Sally was either not arriving as early as she said she was (she was the only one in the office before 8:30) or she was arriving on time but wasn't working.
On Aug 21 (Monday), I decided to come in early to the office since I had to make up time due to a doctor appointment later in the week. So, I arrived at work at 6:40. 6:45 rolled around...no Sally. 6:50...no Sally. 7:00...same thing. Sally arrived at 7:20. Now, ok, maybe she ran into traffic. However, that's a bit of a coincidence that the one day I show up early unannounced is also the day she happens to be late. But I waited to see what time Sally would write down on the timesheet. However, she didn't write down her time until Tuesday right before she left. She had written down that she had arrived at 7:05. I asked her about it, and her response was "I must have copied it down wrong from my spreadsheet." That's strange, 'cause you hadn't arrived at 7:05 any other day that week. Just where did you copy it down from?
Now, I am curious as to what time Sally puts down when she believes no one has seen what time she arrives. So, for Sept 4-15, I would arrive in the parking lot across the street & read a book & eat breakfast while I wait to see what time Sally would arrive. Every single day, she would arrive around 7:15 or 7:20, but would write down 6:45 or 6:50, a half hour discrepancy every single day. & we have no way of knowing how long she's been stealing a half hour every day. She could have been doing this for the past year since her schedule changed.
On Sept 18, I write down Sally's actual times from these 2 weeks on a paper & tell her to correct all the times I indicated. Sally says that she will use the office clock to write down her times from now on. Wait a minute, you're saying that your phone is a half hour earlier than the rest of the world? But only when you arrive at work. When you go to lunch & leave work, it matches the rest of the clocks. & then switches during the night so your arrival time can be wrong again the next day? Wow, that's a pretty glitchy phone you got there.
On Sept 20 after Sally left, I installed a camera that connects to an app in my phone. I put the camera in a place where it wouldn't be able to see any computers/paperwork & turned off the microphone (I didn't want to risk any company info being seen/heard). I only needed to see when Sally arrived. Where I ended up placing it, I was able to see Sally where she sat at her desk.
On three of the following days, Sally would arrive 10 to 15 minutes after the time she would write down. I speak with Greg about this, & we decide to write her up. By the way, usually when an employee is caught forging the timesheet like this, it's an immediate termination. At any other office, she would have gotten fired in the beginning of Sept after I first discovered the half hour forgery. I am deciding to give her a chance to make this whole thing right.
On Sept 26 (Tuesday), I give Sally the write up when she arrives.
Sally: I'll sign it, but I don't know why. I mean, I get here at 7:00. (Ok, there's a sign right there. Who signs an official write up when their employer is lying or setting them up?)
Me: I've observed you arriving between 7:10 & 7:15.
Sally reads the write up & then keeps it at her desk for a bit after signing it. After plenty of time, I ask for it back. She grabs it, so I lean forward & hold my hand out (our desks are right next to each other), but Sally flings it at my desk. The whole thing is made better by the fact that Greg is out of town Tuesday thru Thursday. So, Sally proceeds to be angry & have an attitude all the way through Thursday. She refuses to talk or answer the phones. She does that tossing/flicking-papers-around, aggressive-typing, heavily-setting-things-down thing people do when they're frustrated or angry (which she did all...day...long). She sped out of the parking lot & down the street so fast that I could hear her engine rev & tires squeal from inside the building.
On Sept 27 (Wednesday), Sally is still doing that slamming things thing. I enjoy not responding to her whatsoever. I could see out of the corner of my eye that she would slam something down & look at me. I wouldn't give any kind of reaction, wouldn't look at her, & it would piss her off. Sally would then start slamming things around again. I admit, that was fun.
On Sept 28 (Thursday), I see on the camera that Sally arrives at 7:00, but then I watch her sit on her phone for 45 minutes! She is still having attitude issues, &—unbelievably—is still slamming things. After she leaves for the day, I then see the calendar that Sally keeps on her desk as I was passing by. On the box for Sept 26 (the day she was written up), she had written the words "F***ING JOKE!". The audacity of her to write that in plain view of everyone in the office & think she wouldn't get in trouble for it.
On Sept 29 (Friday), Sally arrives at 7:00 but sits on her phone for 30 minutes WHILE VAPING! (Not sure about other cities or states, but it's illegal to smoke or vape inside a building in the city where our office is.) But Greg is back this day, & I had been texting him what's been going on. He had texted back he wanted to do a meeting on Friday. So, the 3 of us go into the breakroom for a meeting.
Greg: So, Sally, what's been going on with this timesheet thing?
Sally: I just, I forget to write down the time when I arrive.
Greg: Ok, well, whether it's done on purpose or through negligence, we can't have wrong times on the timesheet. So, from now on, you won't be able to come to work before Molly gets here at 8:30. Now, are there any other problems you'd like to discuss with us?
Sally: (begins getting worked up) I just, I feel like I can't talk to her. She creates such a hostile work environment.
Now, I am blown away. Me? Hostile? I'm autistic, so I'm naturally shy & hate socializing, so I usually don't talk to anyone very much. Everyone I tell this story to, their eyes widen when I mention this, 'cause there's no way anyone would ever describe me as hostile.
Luckily, Greg interrupts her to defend me: This isn't a hostile work environment.
Sally: (backpedaling) Well, I mean, she gets mad at her printer & bangs on it, & that just flashes me back to stuff. I mean, I'm trying to work on myself & the anxiety, & she just sends me back.
Oh, so now, we're claiming we have PTSD & that my "violent" actions are giving her flashbacks? Um, who is it laughing right along with me every time my printer jams? (By the way, I know she's lying about the PTSD, 'cause I have a couple friends with PTSD & recognize the signs. Sally doesn't show any sign of fear or panic or shrinking away from things, nothing like that. There are no signs whatsoever of her being alarmed by anything I do.) Oh, not to mention the double standards. You're allowed to slam things around (for 3 straight days, by the way), but I'm not?
Anyway, we wrap up the meeting after Greg underlines (for Sally's benefit) that everyone in the office needs to get along.
On Oct 2 (the next Monday), I had a good drive & happened to get there at 8:20. Sally arrives at 8:25 & comes in, stopping at my desk.
Sally: (annoyed) Are you gonna be early all week?
Me: (frowning & caught off-guard) Um, I don't know. It just depends how long my drive takes.
Sally: (with a snarky attitude) 'Cause I had to keep driving around waiting for you, so if you're gonna be early, I'd like to know.
Ok, first of all, no one is forcing you to drive around. You can park your car in the parking lot. Do you really think we're gonna fire you for sitting in the parking lot while you wait for me? We only said you couldn't come in & work before I do. & second, it's none of your business when I get to work. My shift starts at 8:30, therefore, you should aim for 8:30, just like Greg told you to do. How am I supposed to predict the exact minute I get to work? & you're gonna get angry at me 'cause I didn't show up before my shift starts? Since when is it a requirement of mine to come into work before I start working?
Well, a bit of malicious compliance in this entitled story: if I can see I'm going to arrive at work more than 5 minutes early, I stop at the store just down the road & shop until 8:30. 'Cause guess what? Sally gets there who knows how early & sits in the gas station across the street, waiting for me. Fine, you wanna be that way? I can be petty, too.
By the way, Sally has a radio talk show she listens to from before I get to work until it ends at 10:00. I'm not into talk shows, but it wasn't too annoying (most of the time), so I didn't say anything about it. The reason why I started having a problem listening to it was that they would get into inappropriate things (s** toy review, for example). It made me super uncomfortable when they did segments like this. From the moment Sally was written up, she started only listening to the show on her headphones, thinking she was punishing me by me not getting to hear the show. Joke's on her. Sally did me a favor by not having to listen to that thing.
Sally was also told that she is no longer allowed to take smoke breaks on the clock. As no one else in the office takes breaks but chooses to work through them, this change would be made so all employees were equal now. But here’s the interesting thing: Sally suddenly stopped taking smoke breaks at all, but her bathroom breaks grew more numerous & longer. When she had been taking smoke breaks, the alarm on her phone would go off at specific times, such as 2:00. She would then go outside to take her smoke break. After the on-the-clock-smoke-break privilege was taken away, the same alarms would go off, such as 2:00. She would then disappear to the bathroom for 15 minutes. & I even smelled smoke in there when I went in there right after one of these long bathroom breaks.
Ever since the write up, there’s been attitude every once in a while. Most of the time, I have no idea what it is I did that could possibly have set her off that day. All I know is that Sally’s suddenly slamming things around again (hmm, PTSD cured now, is it?). & she’s still constantly making mistakes (like she’s always done).
On Nov 27, Sally is working on the Funding (loan proceeds funded onto a customer’s debit card). What we do is get the list of customers, determine how much the office funded that customer, transfer the money from the office’s bank account to the holding account, & then transfer the total from the holding account to the account that directly funds the debit cards to replenish the money. We had two customers with similar names (say, John Smith & Jack Smith). Sally hadn’t paid attention to the whole name & had applied John’s $0 funding to Jack. However, Jack had been funded $250. So, that money was missed, & I had to make a separate transfer for it.
On Dec 4, Sally is working on the Funding & writes down $0 for a customer. But the report from the office says he actually got $96.
On Dec 8 & 9, we discovered 2 checks that were supposed to be sent to our office (one from Oct, one from Sept). Neither had been cashed, & neither had ever reached us, even though we had the rest of the paperwork that would have come with those checks. Due to the dots I had connected, I had a pretty strong hunch that Sally wasn’t thoroughly checking the mail envelopes to make sure they’d been completely emptied before they got thrown away. I believed these checks were still in some envelopes that were then thrown away by Sally.
On Dec 11, on the bank reconciliation sheets we work at the end of the month (like balancing a checkbook), one of Sally’s offices was out of balance by $68, & she couldn’t find it. I couldn’t find it, either. I pulled out the one done for the month before. I couldn’t find it there, either. But I did notice one thing. The checks that hadn’t cleared the bank yet didn’t add up to the total amount of outstanding checks Sally had written down. By $68. I go back to the month before that one. There were a total of $68 in old checks that never got cashed & therefore should have gotten written off on the fiscal year-end at the end of Oct. But she hadn’t transferred them to the new month’s sheet. So, now, we have to hold onto them for a whole year to write off next Oct.
The same day, I went through all the offices to double check the GL codes that we post the expense checks to (GL codes determine where an expense gets coded, e.g., post an electricity payment to the GL code for utilities). The day previously, Sally had gotten several GL codes incorrect in the Miller office. She had forgotten to change the codes from the one for the Checkbook to the ones for the expense account. She had caught those ones since it affected the balance of the Checkbook, so I had helped her fix those properly. However, there were expense checks sent to a GL code that wasn’t the right one that Sally hadn’t caught.
I talk with Greg, as I feel that every time I turn around, I am either retraining Sally on stuff I’ve trained her on multiple times, I’m correcting mistakes on stuff Sally should know how to do by now (‘cause again, I’ve trained her multiple times), or I’m disciplining Sally about stuff she’s doing wrong. Greg asks how many mistakes due to carelessness she’s made in the last 2 weeks. I check my notes & tell him 4. He says that’s too excessive for an accounting office. We need to write her up.
So, I made the write up, but I just know I’m going to be dealing with the same attitude as the last time I had to write her up. & guess what? Greg’s out of town till Thursday again. I used my phone this time to record the audio of the interaction. That way, if Sally has attitude towards me again, I’m able to play the recording to Greg so he can hear what Sally’s like when he’s not here (which is why the following conversation is pretty much word for word).
On Dec 12 (Tuesday), I sat her down first thing.
Me: So, in the past couple weeks, I’ve noticed some errors happening due to carelessness, & they’ve become a bit excessive for an accounting office. The most important thing in an accounting office is accuracy. That’s why we focus so much on thoroughness & attention to detail. So, whatever needs to happen to lessen those errors, whether it’s slowing the pace of the work itself or double & triple-checking the work before it’s finished, it needs to happen. For example, when I work the payroll, after I get the total for all the offices, I then subtract each person’s individual hours to double check my entries. That way, if there is an error, at least I know it wasn’t ‘cause I was going too fast or not paying attention or something. So, whatever you need to do to decrease the mistakes, please—
Sally: What errors are we talking about?
Me: I have a page here with the items from the last couple weeks. (hand her the write up)
Sally: (reads the pages for a minute) Ok…
Me: So, whatever you need to do to—
Sally: (talking quickly ‘cause she’s pissed now) I’m gonna need more time & focus strictly on Funding. I don’t wanna touch mail, I don’t wanna touch anything else. I wanna focus strictly on that. ‘Cause I’m getting 80 plus a day (which was a lie, we never get nearly that much), & now, I’m gonna start getting in trouble if it’s not 110%. I am human. I will make mistakes. So, if that’s not allowed, then…(shrugs) let me know, I guess. I’ll talk to Greg & I guess figure something out. I am human, & I am gonna make mistakes, A. B, I feel like crap. He (Greg) has been in here sick the last week. I caught whatever he has. I’ve been hacking. I’ve been sicker than sh** the last week. I am trying. You guys usually have until the 12th to close the month. Since I’ve worked here, I’ve closed before the 8th. Yeah, I made mistakes. I told you I made a mistake on the Miller office. I knew what happened. So, to throw it in my face again that I already made that mistake is kinda rude, but…(shrugs) I’m actually kinda shocked to see that on there.
Me: Well, you did catch the errors involving the Checkbook, but there were other mistakes on that office that you didn’t catch, & that’s the reason that was listed on there.
Sally goes back to her work, & I decide to not ask her to sign the write up I had given her right away since she was diving right into the Funding. She had expressed she wanted to focus solely on it to minimize mistakes. I wanted to use positive reinforcement to convey that this was good behavior & good thinking, so I decided to wait for her to finish before asking her to sign & return the write up.
Now, here’s the issues with her little outburst above.

1. Sally is complaining that she’s human & makes mistakes & we’re not allowing mistakes. We’re not saying that she can’t make mistakes, ‘cause she’s right. Everyone makes mistakes; I make mistakes. What we’re saying is that she’s making mistakes much too often.
   
2. Sally says the reason for these mistakes the last 2 weeks is ‘cause she’s been sick the last week or so ‘cause she caught what Greg had (do you see the timing problem there?). Also, these kinds of mistakes have been happening for months & months. I only brought these examples up ‘cause they were recent.
   
3. Sally pointed out the fact that she closes each month really quick. We don’t care how fast things get done. Our goal isn’t to get things done quickly but to get things done accurately. If we happen to get it done quickly, that’s just a bonus. We would rather things go slow than to have errors causing problems or costing us money ‘cause we didn’t take the time to make sure it was correct.
   
4. Sally states it’s rude that I’m throwing her error back in her face (you already know my reaction to that). She obviously doesn’t know how a job works. Just ‘cause we discussed this error already doesn’t mean it can’t go on the write up. This is just one of the examples that required us to do a write up. We’re not doing this ‘cause we want to write you up or that we’re looking for excuses to get you in trouble. We’re doing our job. If a situation needs correcting, we have to correct it. We can’t just ignore it. & obviously, me talking about your errors all these months hasn’t helped. You’re still making the same mistakes. So, now, we’ve had to escalate to a write up on paper.
   

Sally doesn’t say another word. She, as expected, starts doing her tossing-things-‘cause-I’m-pissed-off thing. I just go back to my work. I’ve said my piece, now we can put it behind us & move on.
Now, we have until 10:30 to make the transfers for this Funding program in order to get the money back to the account the same day. We are still missing the paperwork for 2 customers from an office. (FYI, when we’re missing paperwork, we call the office & ask them to fax it. If we still don’t get it when it gets close to the transfer deadline, we call again & just ask for the amount to get it done.) So, at 10:20, Sally turns to me.
Sally: What do I do for these 2 customers? Do I just skip them?
Me: (frowning) Do what you usually do when you don’t have the paperwork in time. Call the office—
Sally: (in a sharp tone) I did. (she’s assuming I mean call the office to tell them to fax it)
Me: (ignoring her attitude outburst) Call up the office & ask for the dollar amounts.
Sally: But I don’t want to write down the amount without seeing the actual paperwork. If I’m gonna get in trouble for errors now, I don’t want to take down what could be the wrong dollar amount over the phone. I mean, I think that’s only fair to me.
Me: In the instances that were mentioned, they weren’t cases of taking down an amount over the phone. They were instances where we had paperwork or a report to see the amount. We would never write you up if there was a possibility that the office gave you the wrong amount over the phone.
Sally stares at me for a second & turns back to her desk. I turn back to my own work as Sally then calls up the office. I had to deal with her attitude the rest of the day: throwing mail into the mailbox, throwing open the letter folding machine so it made a big bang on the table. I was trying to still be the usual friendly, professional person I am at work; I told her “See you tomorrow” & everything. Sally wouldn’t talk to me unless she had to.
This is when I discovered that Sally has a habit of lashing out at me when she gets in trouble. The first write up involved her trying to drag me under the bus by claiming I’m hostile. This time, it was more personal. See, we do a Christmas gift exchange at the office; we each buy each other a gift. I had searched over & over trying to find something Sally would like. I finally found this desk calendar with gnomes on it (she likes both of these things), so I got it & a couple small items. I open my gift from Sally, & among a few cheap little things, I found…Sally’s own nearly empty bottle of nail polish remover. Wow, this is the thanks I get for not firing you back in Sept with the whole timesheet forgery thing?
& this is where I leave you until Part 2, the conclusion.